In this send:
Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, Equinox, NAD+, food journaling, weight training, PCOS, breastfeeding, saffron, ubiquinol, perimenopause, alcohol tolerance, synchronized swimming, Lilly Direct…
Welcome back. It’s still High Touch week. Today we’re hearing from a cross-section of New Yorkers who’ve taken or are taking GLPs; brand-name Ozempic and Zepbound to gray-market product via “peptide guy.” One in eight Americans is on a weight-loss medication, and soon we’ll look back and find it hard to believe there was ever any stigma around them at all. (But, to be clear, at this point in time there still very much is.)
Below, I speak to three of my friends about their diverse reasonings for taking the peptide—”being thin” as its own end, as a treatment for PCOS, to lose the baby weight and find themself again…everyone has their reasons. But first, a few things we’ve seen, heard, pined for this week:
A touch of High Touch
Dave Asprey’s Beyond Biohacking Conference wrapped up in Austin yesterday, and I was amused to see NYCxDESIGN and Milan Design Week regular ATRA have a presence there through its sibling company Morpheus. Basically, Morpheus is a lounge chair system embedded with stress-regulating tech—light therapy and inaudible sound waves—that analogs as luxury furniture. I’ve had a crush on this chair for a while. This crossover is interesting to me for how it further enmeshes the spiky biohacking world with the softer sciences of taste, desire, knowingness.
Suna Health wants to be the first wearable gut tracker, affixed like a CGM to the abdomen with the digestion process—sounds, heart rate response, temperature, motion—logging in real time to an app. It’s still pre-launch, with 12,000+ people on the waitlist. Shipping early 2027.
Esoteric health Substack link up: Sami Reiss profiles Julian Pratt during one of his pop-up park calisthenics sessions for SSENSE, where Chris Gayomali is EIC. Pics go hard.
Niko Zucchero, 32
How would you describe your relationship to food, eating, and your body before you started GLPs? What specifically led you to explore them?
I was an emotional eater and had insane food noise, and I was overweight for what I wanted for myself. All of that’s gone.
When and how did you start taking GLPs? I.e. who was your provider, what was the cost, what form(s) did you take?
I tried semaglutide and I was micro dosing it; this was early 2023 but was difficult to reliably get. I took it for a few months and noticed results but nothing major. In August of 2024 I started Trizepitide with a med spa paying $250-$350 weekly—Alchemy43 was my med spa, I chose them because a friend recommended and they had locations NYC and LA. After three months of this, I’d lost 20-ish pounds. Then a friend introduced me to her “peptide guy” and I’ve been with him ever since: it’s $175 per vial which lasts 2-4 weeks depending on my dose at the time, and he has every other peptide you could want; I’ve tried NAD+ injections and a copper-peptide blend, I liked both but didn’t like intramuscular injections with the NAD, and didn’t like the daily injections with the copper blend. I’ll probably circle back to a copper blend now that he has more options available.
What was your initial reaction? How soon did you begin noticing the effects? Did you experience any side effects?
When I switched to Trizepitide and increased dosing on schedule I really started to see results, I lost ~50lbs over the course of a year, quite rapidly in the first six months. (Starting to regularly work out helped.) My side effects have been mild, a bit of car sickness feeling or nausea if I ate too much. Possibly some hair thinning, not enough to stop.
What impact have GLPs had on your health and wellbeing—including any data you've tracked? Positive or negative.
Being thin has helped my wellbeing, sorry it’s tea.
What’s your current GLP protocol? Has it evolved over time?
I’ve taken breaks, and I’m currently more interested in maintenance, or a boost post-holiday / vacation. I’m no longer looking for drastic results, just quieting food noise and maintaining.
Have you noticed GLPs interacting with anything else in your life—other medications, supplements, exercise, alcohol, sleep, mood?
Well, I now take 11 different supplements + a green powder every morning because I am aware that consistently eating only once a day is not going to do everything.
Supplements as of now: NMN 500mg liposomal, probiotic, saffron, liposomal vitamin C 1000mg, B-complex, fiber, astaxanthin 4mg, zinc 15mg + bisglycinate copper 2mg, magnesium glycinate, ubiquinol 10mg, omega-3 (rTG, enteric coated).
Subject to change? I’ve been thinking about adding iron and a collagen powder but I can’t find one I love. My mood is great, being thin puts me in a good mood. I basically don’t drink at all now and I don’t want to be flabby so I also workout.
What do your circles think about your GLP use, if it’s something you’ve shared with them?
I’ve convinced so many people to get on it and try it. I'm screaming it from the rooftops.